This plant looks so familiar but I am clueless. I thought at first it might be Mountain Ash or a type of Senna, but the more I look at the picture, the more puzzled I am. It's growing in my son's back yard in Indianapolis and I don't know of its habits, nor does he, since he just moved into this home. I was hoping somebody here might be more familiar with it than I am. There seems to be a very small seedling of the same plant just beside and below it. Thanks for taking a look.

Maybe Ailanthus altissima?

http://www.invasive.org/weedcd...

I concur with Janet. Sure looks like Ailanthus altissima. A real nuisance plant.

Ditto on Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

And I think you all are right.

Thank you so much!

The photos on tree of heaven link show the leaves alternating, Sharon's photo has leaves perfectly across from eachother. So that cannot be correct, unless this changes as teh plant matures, but I don't think so?

Ailanthus altissima does have alternate leaves.



In Sharon's photo, the branch on the right appears to have alternate leaves ... but my eyes aren't so great anymore so they may very well be opposite. If they are opposite, the plant is something other than Ailanthus altissima.

I'm pretty sure they slightly alternate but the camera angle is a bit confusing, as is the very late evening light.

I'll have my son take a much closer look and maybe a better photo.

Thanks, Frilly.

From what I can see, there looks to be both opposite and alternate leaves. The alternate leaves are not far from being opposite.

I would swear that some leaves are opposite, check this photo from MOBOT ..

http://www.missouribotanicalga...

Tree of heaven resembles the sumacs and hickories, but is easily distinguished by the glandular, notched base on each leaflet

http://www.invasive.org/weedcd...

You can see on the next link howclose to being opposite the leaves are ..

http://www.namethatplant.net/g...

I cropped part of Sharon's pic to show the leaf notches which look glandular, and alternate leaves.

Janet, you see the same things I see and in the same places. I told him to save at least the one plant and to keep watching it. As Fall approaches there could be changes so I'll watch for them. There really might be nothing much to see till Spring but until then I'm really thinking it is tree of heaven.

Thanks, Janet, Super Sleuth!

Sniff the tree (or have your son do so )
It will stink if it is tree of heaven.

May be black walnut , I always get the two mixed up till I smell them.

Cinda, thanks. I'll have him sniff, but I really would like for it to be a black walnut. So glad you mentioned it.

Janet was right with the first post. It's Tree of Heaven, no doubt. Tree of Heaven has compound leaves. The leaves are alternate (as is clearly the case in Sharon's picture). At a casual glance, the individual leaflets appear to be opposite, but they are usually offset from each other, although sometimes very slightly.

Thanks Kent! I'm pretty sure of that too, but when Cinda put Black Walnut in my mind -- and since I haven't seen a black walnut tree in years and years, I started thinking about that possibility as well. Wishful thinking, no doubt.

KentPfeiffer said:Janet was right with the first post. It's Tree of Heaven, no doubt. Tree of Heaven has compound leaves. The leaves are alternate (as is clearly the case in Sharon's picture). At a casual glance, the individual leaflets appear to be opposite, but they are usually offset from each other, although sometimes very slightly.

I looked at one down in the pasture today and some are offset to such a slight degree they really do look opposite without a very close examination. Some are more clearly alternate, but a lot are not. No possibility of them being a walnut here. I think that offset beside it is another clue. I wouldn't think that would be likely for a walnut, but is all too likely for a Tree of Heaven. It really got tagged wrong with the common name. Should've been Tree of H...! It's really hard to keep it under control.

I hadn't thought of that little seedling -- or is it a 'rootling' since it probably didn't come from seed. But you're right, Donald. A walnut tree wouldn't likely increase like that. Thanks for your input. I'm pretty well convinced now, it isn't something that should be kept.

Thank you all for your help.

One of the reasons Tree of Heaven is such a menace is the fact that it is rhizomatous and suckers aggressively.

If you decide the cut it down, you'll probably need to treat the stumps with herbicide. If you cut it off and don't treat it, you'll just make it mad and there will be several replacements next year.

If you really don't want to use herbicides, the tree appears small enough that you might be able to get rid of it by digging the entire root system, but I wouldn't bet on it (it may be just be a sucker attached to a nearby large tree).

KentPfeiffer said:..... you might be able to get rid of it by digging the entire root system, but I wouldn't bet on it ........

Me neither!